In many buildings, such as department stores, signs are suspended from the ceiling to indicate zones within the building or other useful information. Signs preferably are suspended in an elevated position so as to make it possible for them to be visible notwithstanding the presence of shelving and the like supported on the floor of the building.
Prior art sign supports conventionally include a fastener of some type for suspending the sign from the ceiling at an elevated level. One form of ceiling fastener comprises a wire clip which can be coupled to supports for panels which form a drop ceiling. The fastener also is connected to the sign. In this construction the wire clip has an eyelet through which a screw may pass into the body of the sign so as to secure the clip to the sign.
Fire protection sprinkler heads also are supported in buildings in an elevated position. In some instances a sign is so close to one or more sprinkler heads that water emitted therefrom can impinge on the sign, thereby interfering with the desired flow of such water.
Although the wire clip sign support referred to above is inexpensive, sturdy, and easy to install, it does not provide for the automatic separation of a sign from its support when it becomes necessary to make use of the fire protection sprinkler system. Consequently, a sign supported by prior art devices may obstruct or interfere with the flow of water from one or more sprinkler heads when the latter are activated to quench a fire.
A sign support according to the invention overcomes the objectionable characteristics of known sign supports by automatically releasing the sign in response to an increase in ambient temperature to a selected level somewhat lower than that at which the sprinkler system is activated, thereby enabling the sign to fall clear of the path of water emitted from the sprinkler heads.